Country singer Jason Aldean during a sold-out stop in Atlanta May 18 on his… (RICK DIAMOND, GETTY IMAGES )

June 29, 2012|By John J. Moser, Of The Morning Call

Jason Aldean might be no Justin Bieber. But the way tickets to his Aug. 30 show at Allentown Fair were flying out of the ticket booth Friday at the fairgrounds, position him as the fair's biggest draw in more than a decade — and a potential record-breaker.

Aldean's show with Luke Bryant sold 7,308 tickets in the first half hour, said fair Marketing Director Bonnie Brosious. By 1 p.m., the number was at 8,253.Tickets are available at http://www.ticketmaster.com, 800-745-3000, at Ticketmaster centers and at the box office at the fairgrounds.

Aldean's pace was only slightly off Justin Bieber's record of 8,500 tickets sold in a half hour for his 2010 fair show.

But Aldean's show will have standing-only admission to the grandstand's track area, meaning it has 14,500 tickets instead of the 9,000 or so for Bieber's show. The standing-only track also means there also isn't an urgency of trying to buy the seats closest to the stage, Brosious said.

In addition, Bieber's tickets cost just $39 and $49, while Aldean's are $59.

"This is when I love it," Brosious said in the midst of a whirlwind of ticket sales. "It's exciting. It's going to be a great show."

The most tickets sold for a show in the past 17 years is 11,943 for pop-punkers Blink-182 in 2001, meaning Aldean, the reigning American Country Awards artist of the year, was well on his way to passing that mark.

The record for the fair is 14,604 tickets sold by Boyz II Men in 1995, but capacity now is capped at 14,500, Brosious said.

But with Aldean's ticket price, he will break the Jonas Brothers' 2008 box office gross record of a little more than $700,000 if he sells 12,000 tickets. Brosious said she expects the show to sell out.

Making the speed of Aldean's tickets even more impressive is the fact that two weeks ago, he sold out a 25,000-ticket July 28 show at Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, just 60 miles away from the Allentown Fair.

It was that show's proximity that prevented the fair from announcing its show until Camden had sold out. The June 15 announcement was especially late for the fair, and left just 2 1/2 months to sell tickets. Brosious said that also made negotiations for the show — which took place before the end of last year's fair — especially difficult.

"I was telling [Aldean's representatives] that their own artist had the ability to sell that well," Brosious said. "When the day finally comes to put it on sale and you see a great response like this, it's awesome."

Even though the show has a large general admission area, 103 people waited in line for the fair box office to open, concerned the show would sell out, or looking to buy the best seats in the covered grandstand area.

Brosious said that as of the first 30 minutes, track tickets were slightly outselling grandstand seats, which she said wasn't surprising, since the 35-year-old Aldean's audience skews younger, with raucous No. 1 hits such as "Dirt Road Anthem" and "Big Green Tractor."

"But the older fans are here, too, and they want to be in the grandstand," Brosious said.

In fact, the first person in line, Kara Yanochko, 28, of Emmaus was buying grandstand tickets — eight in total, for herself, her sisters and her mother, and others. She said those seats gave them the comfort of not being in a crowd and of being covered if it rains (the track area is uncovered).

In addition, buying eight tickets at the fair box office saved her nearly $75 in fees would have had to pay if buying them online from Ticketmaster.

Yanochko, a Philadelphia School District teacher, said she fell in love with Aldean after seeing him from the front rows at Susquehanna Bank Center last summer. "I realized he was a great performer."

Second in line was Rick Dunbar of Bethlehem and his mother, Steph, who said they had been there since 5 a.m. to buy six tickets. Steph Dunbar said they feared a sellout and have had trouble with Ticketmster.

Besides, she said, meeting new people and talking about Aldean with them was "priceless," and the weather was perfect.

It apparently was too perfect for Steve Wildman, Ashley Seier and Amara Hittinger, all of Northampton, who said they arrived at the fairgrounds at 8 p.m. Thursday and were told they had to wait offsite until 6 a.m. They said they fell asleep on the sidewalks and didn't wake until 7:30, ending up 20th in line.

Because they bought general admission tickets, "We'll be back to stand in line to get in," Seier said. "And I'll be sleeping on the sidewalk again."